Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Sian's Christmas Club

There's a scene in Harry Potter where Dumbeldore uses a pensieve to go back and examine saved memories.  Blog friend Sian is organizing a venture she calls "Christmas Club," in which she is encouraging friends to dip into pensieves of their own and recall special memories from Christmases past.  The Christmas Club will generally run on Sundays, but I wanted to do a bit of catch-up with a small post of my own.  Thanksgiving (in America) seems like as good a day as any to share this food-based Christmas memory.  So, I'm placing the wand into my pensieve and pulling out a memory from 1989   . . .
It's time for the annual baking day with my good friend Linda.  Paul and I havem recently bought our first home - a condominium in San Carlos, California.  The double ovens will come in handy as we bake pound cake and three different kinds of cookies, not to mention the candied pecans that also must go into the oven.  We are able to use the stove top for the fudge we will make, though.  Before we begin any of that, though, we pop open a bottle of champagne and mix it with fresh squeezed orange juice. Who cares that it's not even 10:00 a.m.?  It's baking day.  After we have a few drinks and bagels, we start cooking in earnest.  Our music of choice?  Bruce Springsteen, played at high volume.  Around noon, we have some fancy pizza to go with our second bottle of champagne.  We continue to cook and by mid-afternoon, all we have left to do is decorate the sugar cookies. Over the years, we have found this to be the perfect activity to accompany our third bottle of champagne.  By the time our guys arrive at the condo after work, all we are fit to do is to giggle, sing Bruce Springsteen and hit the sack early.   Everyone always loved everything we made (and so I'm sharing the recipes with you today-click on them to enlarge).  But, for me, the true joy of the season was the time spent with a good friend - eating, drinking, singing, dancing and giggling.  On Baking Day, 1989.

22 comments:

Amy said...

What a great day! I love this memory Rinda and I think that I might fit in well at your place on baking day! Sounds a lot like the days after Christmas in our house - minus the baking in the heat ... more like swimming and firing up the bbq.

laurie said...

sounds like a perfect day! :-)

Tammy Lee Bradley said...

What a great post!!! I love this idea (and Harry Potter too.)

I hope you have a lovely holiday. If you get a chance link up to the blog hop for a chance to win a Holga camera and share your art with our followers.

HUGE hugs!! Tam

Terry said...

That would be such a fun way to spend the day baking! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

Justine said...

what a great way to spend the day

JO SOWERBY said...

what a fab memory and have a wonderful thanksgiving,
Jo xxxx

Sian said...

Oh, wow! What a fantastic start to Christmas Club! I've always been fascinated by the idea of the Pensieve - and by lots of the bits in Harry Potter about memory and loss so I love this comparison.

And I truly loved your trip back to 1989 and those early days together. I can remember Christmas 1989 too - I had been very seriously ill during the summer and was only just recovering. I was thankful to be alive and enjoying our second Christmas in our first little house.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving Rinda and thanks for this x

GailO said...

Oh you had me at Bruce Springsteen ...and the mimosas of course:) This is a wonderful fun memory. One of the reasons I started a blog was to save such memories but I haven't been doing enough of it....you have inspired me to get out my pensieve:)

I'm visiting via the blog hop...and wishing you and your family a Happy Thanksgiving!

Mommy2CVC said...

That's great Rinda! My favorite Ontiveros Cookie Party memory is when we were making mom the book. John was an amazing machine that day!!! I wish you were going to be with us today!! The girls miss their cousin!

Kat Sloma said...

Sounds like a wonderful tradition! Happy Thanksgiving to you! Thanks for joining the Mortal Muse blog hop. :)

Anonymous said...

great memory. Thanks for posting the recipes.

Becky said...

Happy Thanksgiving and thank you for sharing your memory of 1989. Thank you also for sharing the recipes - off to have a closer look again at them now!

humel said...

I knew you'd have lots of lovely projects for me to enjoy when I caught up on your blog, and sure enough you do! I like the ink splatter effect - I must give that a go; the corner lacing!! Funny coincidence, I covered that in my papercrafts class this week!; the spray paint looks amazing; so do the recipes - oh, too many lovely things to be able to comment on them all, but I've thoroughly enjoyed my catch-up! xx

Tammy Lee Bradley said...

Me again.... Happy Thanksgiving to you! Thanks for joining the Mortal Muse blog hop. :)

Cheryl said...

wow can I come to your sure sounds like you know how to bake and have fun and not to mention the friends what a great combination x

blue elephant photography said...

happy thanksgiving!

Deb @ PaperTurtle said...

I love this story, Rinda. :o) And thanks for sharing the recipes too.

Pitterle Postings said...

I hope your day was wonderful. It sounds like a great way to celebrate the day. I love baking. I tried many new dishes this Thanksgiving and we had a great time doing it. There is just something comforting about cooking all together.

Maureen said...

What a fun memory. Sounds like a great time. Thanks for sharing it and thanks for joining us on the blog hop!
♥maureen

Miriam said...

What a wonderful memory of a special time. I would love to be in your home on baking day Rhinda x thank you for your story x

Kirsty.A said...

Nice story - reminds me of Christmas baking when I lived in the Czech Republic. I'll have to check the pensieve (AKA photo albums) and see whether I have any pics. I've just added my Christmas Club post - but I think I might do one about Czech Christmasses next Sunday

Alison said...

Sounds like my kind of day! Hope you had a great Thanksgiving